Security module

1. An article comprising: a computer program product stored in a computer readable storage device having instructions comprising: computer readable code to present a cryptographic key to an authentication module, said authentication module accessed through a trusted firmware layer; computer readable code for a validation module to process validation of said key through a firmware call; and computer readable code for an authentication module to restrict access of an unauthorized application to computer hardware resources in response to a determination of presentation of an invalid key, including allowing access of the unauthorized application to a reduced set of said hardware resources.

2. The article of claim 1 , wherein key verification is implemented in software as part of the trusted firmware layer.

3. The article of claim 1 , wherein key verification is implemented in a hardware register.

4. The article of claim 1 , wherein access of an unauthorized application to said hardware is responsive to presentation of said key to said verification module.

5. The article of claim 1 , wherein said hardware is selected from the group consisting of: a graphics accelerator, a floating point accelerator, a high resolution frame buffer, and combinations thereof.

6. The article of claim 1 , wherein said hardware is a central processing unit of a game set.

7. A game set comprising: a central processing unit having an acceleration hardware resource; an authentication module accessed via a trusted firmware layer to verify a cryptographic key presented by an application requesting access to said hardware resource; and a validation module responsive to verification of said key; said authentication module to determine validity of said key, including allowing access of said application with a valid key to said hardware resource, and limiting access of said application with an invalid key to a select set of hardware resources.

8. The game set of claim 7 , wherein said key is computed from a value previously obtained from said authentication module.

9. The game set of claim 7 , wherein said authentication module is implemented in software as part of the trusted firmware layer.

10. A method for restricting access to computer hardware comprising: presenting a cryptographic key to an authentication module; accessing said authentication module through a trusted firmware layer; validating said key through a firmware call using a validation module; and the authentication module restricting access of an unauthorized application to computer hardware resources in response to a determination of presentation of an invalid key, including allowing execution of the unauthorized application to a reduced set of said hardware resources.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of validating said key includes presenting said key through a firmware call.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said firmware call is selected from the group consisting of: a software interrupt and a protected procedure call.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of validating said key includes writing a valid key to a hardware register of said computer hardware.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein hardware is selected from the group consisting of: a graphics accelerator, a floating-point accelerator, a high-resolution frame buffer, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein said computer hardware is a central processing unit of a game set.